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Kantara Initiative and EHNAC Collaborate to Further Industry Adoption of Trusted Information Sharing and Identity Systems
Health Care Credentialing and Data Security Leaders Will Work to Break Down the Silos of Non-Standard Authentication and Data Exchange
PISCATAWAY, N.J. and FARMINGTON, Conn. – August 20, 2013 – The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) and Kantara Initiative (Kantara) announced today their formation of a collaborative relationship to identify the shared benefits and value from mutual recognition between each organization. In particular, the areas of mutual recognition may include Registration Authority at the user level, organizational trust through best practices, and operations of Identity Federations (Federation Operator guidelines).
EHNAC’s partnership with DirectTrust.org and their joint development of the Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program (DTAAP) served as the impetus for the collaboration with Kantara Initiative. The Kantara Initiative operates and develops U.S. Federal government adopted, internationally referenced Identity Assurance programs to verify Trusted Credential Service, Identity Proofing and Credential Management Providers: “There is a natural and complementary synergy within the Direct, EHNAC and Kantara Initiative programs,” offered Joni Brennan, Kantara Initiative Executive Director. “Where DTAAP focuses on trusted information exchange in a safe and interoperable environment, Kantara Initiative focuses on trusted credential services that issue to end-point users of systems (patient, doctor, e-prescriber etc.), verified by its Kantara Accredited Assessors.”
“There are numerous initiatives evolving in the health care sector that require strong identity management to ensure adequate security and trust of health information transported over the Internet,” said Lee Barrett, Executive Director, EHNAC. “We are honored to collaborate with the Kantara Initiative in an effort to minimize the development of “silos” of non-standard and unrelated identity vetting processes and documentation. Both of our organizations seek to help provide the common and basic elements needed to support a single Internet-based identity to be broadly used by health care professionals as they obtain online credentials.”
EHNAC, a federally recognized standards development organization and non-profit accrediting body, announced a new agreement with the federal government, in which DirectTrust, a non-profit association created by and for participants in the Direct community, had been awarded a cooperative agreement from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) for continued development and implementation of the DTAAP accreditation program.
“As the premiere recognized US Federal Trust Framework Provider, Kantara Initiative is pleased to form this collaborative relationship to define how organizations and industry will benefit from mutual Accreditation body recognition to speed and ease adoption of Trusted information sharing and identity systems toward broad scale deployment,” added Allan Foster, President of the Kantara Initiative Board of Trustees.
The Kantara Initiative is the premiere U.S. Government Trust Framework Provider (TFP) program as the only Approved US Government TFP certifying Levels of Assurance (LoA) 1, 2, and 3 non-crypto (non-PKI). Kantara Initiative TFP Approval followed the Office Management Budget (OMB) memo to US Chief Information Officers (CIOs) that requires LoA 1 certified credentials be implemented within 90 days of the first TFP final approval for new agency services or when existing services are enhanced or upgraded and LoA 2 and 3 non-crypto certified credentials be adopted for higher value US Government agency services within the near term.
Kantara Initiative’s Identity Assurance Approval and Accreditation initiatives continually strive to align with internationally focused Identity and Access Management requirements for Trusted services through their liaison activities with bodies such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Internet Technical Advisory Committee (OECD-ITAC), International Standards Organization (ISO), and International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T).
About Kantara Initiative
Kantara Initiative is an industry and community organization that enables communities to define rules of engagement for operators of online services, promoting adoption of high-value, privacy-preserving identity and access management services through our Accreditation and Approval services as well as our Innovation Work Group. Industry leader representation includes: enterprise, user-centric, research & education, government agencies, and international stakeholders.
Kantara Initiative was founded in 2009 by multi-stakeholder representative industry leaders and operates as a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization. For more information about joining Kantara Initiative or becoming Kantara Approved or Accredited visit – kantarainitiative.org and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
About EHNAC
The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) is a voluntary, self-governing standards development organization (SDO) established to develop standard criteria and accredit organizations that electronically exchange healthcare data. These entities include e-prescribing solution providers, electronic health networks, financial services firms, health information exchanges, health information service providers, medical billers, third-party administrators, management service organizations, outsourced service providers, payers, and EPCS vendors.
EHNAC was founded in 1993 and is a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization. Guided by peer evaluation, the EHNAC accreditation process promotes quality service, innovation, cooperation and open competition in healthcare. To learn more, visit www.ehnac.org, contact info@ehnac.org, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
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Press contact information:
Joni Brennan, Kantara Initiative Executive Director
joni @ kantarainitiative.org
Dave Anderson, Anderson Interactive Marcom, 678-401-2991
dave @ andersoninteractivemarcom.com